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WAR PAPER 25. 



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WAR PAP ERS. 

25 

The Capture of "Fort IFisKer," 

PREPARED BY COMPANION 



Commander 



ZERA L. TANNER, 

U. S. Navy, 



READ AT THE STATED MEETING OF JANUARY 6, 1897. 



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It is my purpose to relate my own small share in the opera- 
tions resulting in the capture of Fort Fisher ; but first I will 
preface it with a brief mention of leading events in order to a 
better understanding of the final i-esult. 

The expedition was a subject of frequent discussion at the 
seat of government during the summer of 1S64, and in September 
the Navy Department received assurances from the Secretary of 
War that the necessary land force would be supplied. Rear- 
Admiral D. D. Porter was assigned to the command afloJit, and, 
with his wonted energy, he soon had a powerful fleet gathered 
at Hampton Roads in readiness for the undertaking which he 
vainly hoped might be pressed to a conclusion without delay, 
for he well knew that the boisterous weather of autumn, and 
the storms of winter, would soon be upon him, when operations 
on the exposed coast of the Atlantic could only be conducted 
with the greatest difficulty and danger. 

Unexpected and vexatious delays occurred, owing to the mili- 
tary situation, which prevented immediate co-operation. The 
naval attack finally commenced on the 24th of December and 
continued through the following day, when 3,000 troops of 
General Butler's command were landed, and General Weitzel 
made a reconnoissance of the fort, reporting that it could not be 
taken by assault ; the troops were then ordered to re-embark 
and all but 700 men were promptly afloat, the latter remaining 
unmolested on the beach until the 27th, weather-bound. The 
General and his army sailed away to Fortress Monroe, but the 



Admiral was not satisfied with the result, and represented the 
case so stronjjlv that an immediate resumption of operations was 
decided upon. 

There has been much discussion as to whether the fort could 
have been captured by assault at the time of the first attack, and 
perhaps the answer is furnished by the paragraph in General 
Whiting's report of December 30, 1864, in which he says : "What- 
ever the power of resistance of the fort, and it is great, no doubt, 
the delav due to the heavy weather of Wednesday and Thursday 
after the arrival of the fleet was its salvation. . . . But we can- 
not always hope for such aid from the weather, or the lilunder 
of the enemv, manifest here for his not landing and occupying 
the work before the commencement of the bombardment, and I 
trust the lesson will not be lost." 

On December 31, 1864, the .Secretary of the Navy wrote to the 
Admiral that General Grant would send immediately a competent 
force, properly commanded, to co-operate in the capture of the 
defenses on Federal Point. And General Terrv, with 6,000 
men from the i\rmy of the Potomac, reached the rendezvous at 
Beaufort, N. C, January 8, 1865, where he was detained by 
heavy weather until the morning of the 12th, when he sailed, 
under convoy of Porter's fleet, for Fort Fisher. 

Arriving at daylight next morning, the Nc%v Ironsides and 
the four monitors immediately engaged the fort, while the re- 
mainder of the fleet, and transports, anchored off Half Moon 
Battery, about four miles to the northward, and landed the 
troops by means of the ship's boats. They were lowered 
simultaneously, filled with men, and, at the signal, made a dash 
for the shore, where, in less than a minute, more than 1,000 
soldiers were unceremoniously thrown belter and skelter upon 
the beach by the surf, which was still heavy from the recent 
gale. 



The troops were all ashore soon after noon, when the whole 
fleet of 48 vessels, including 5 ironclads, went into action and 
maintained a furious fire until nightfall, when the wooden ships 
withdrew, leaving the ironclads to keep up a slow fire to pre- 
vent repairs or the construction of new works. The bombard- 
ment was continued through the 14th and again on the 15th, 
An assaulting party of 2,000 men, sailors and marines, were 
landed during the forenoon of the latter date, and, at 3 p. m., 
advanced against the sea face of the fort, at double quick, in the 
face of a murderous fire of musketry from the parapets until 
they passed the northeast bastion and encountered a line of pali- 
sades which stopped further progress. The seamen were armed 
with cutlass and pistol, which were entirely ineffective, while the 
weak and scattered fire of the 400 marines had no visible effect 
upon the enemy. From the manner in which the seamen were 
armed, it is clear to my mind that the Admiral intended the 
movement as a feint to draw off the major portion of the garri- 
son under the mistaken idea that it was a combined naval and 
military attack. As such it was an entire success and enabled 
the army to get possession of seven traverses before they en- 
countered serious opposition. Colonel Lamb, who commanded 
the fort at the time of its capture, said, in a letter to a naval 
officer: . . . "The naval column came up the open beach upon 
our center. As its success would have been disastrous, I con- 
centrated all available guns upon this column, and met its assault 
with the larger portion of my men, posting them upon the ram- 
pai'ts so as to fire down upon the sailors and marines." 

The possession of every traverse from the seventh was hotly 
contested, but the enemy were slowly driven from one to 
another until, at 10 p. m., the fort was surrendered to our forces. 



Pcrso)ial XarratioJi . 

During the first attack I was in command of the prize steamer 
Vixen en route for New York. This vessel, when captured, 
was in command of the celebrated blockade-runner, " Captain 
Roberts," a Britisli naval officer better known subsequently as 
Hobart Pasha. I rejoined my ship, the Rhode Island., at Beau- 
fo4-t, N. C, January loth, two days before the sailing of the 
expedition. 

Upon our arrival off Half Moon Battery on the morning of 
January 13th, I left my ship in charge of her launch, ist and 2d 
cutters, and whale-boat, to assist in landing troops. There was 
quite a heavy surf on the beach, sufficient to insure a wetting to 
passengers and crews of boats attempting to land in the ordinary 
manner, so I took the precaution to put a kedge anchor and coil 
of rope in the launch, and, sending the other boats to the trans- 
poits for soldiers, I borrowed a metallic lifeboat that happened 
to be lying astern of a transport, and, pulling to a position just 
outside of the surf, anchored the launch, put the kedge and one 
end of the coil of rope in the lifeboat, with an officer and a 
couple of men, and sent them through the surf. It was the 
work of a moment to plant the anchor well up on the shelving 
beach, run the rope through the rings at both ends of the boat, 
bend it to the ring of the kedge, and haul out to the launch, 
which was already filled with soldiers from the other boats. We 
had now established a safe and convenient communication with 
the shore capable of landing passengers dry shod, provided that 
they stepped out when ordered and ran up the beach in advance 
of the next incoming roller. 

An amusing scene, and incidentally a wet jacket, was sure to 
follow a few seconds delay when some over-polite soldier turned 
to thank the lifeboat's crew for a safe and comfortable landing. 



Our route soon became popular and was extensively patronized 
by the boats of other ships. Something over 500 men, with 
their equipments, were landed that morning by Tanner's FeiTy, 
as it was facetiously called. 

As soon as the lifeboat was in operation I hunted up a trans- 
port that was said to have on board the reserve supply of small- 
arm ammunition, and going alongside, I saw a tall, slender 
officer, glass in hand, pacing up and down the deck, seeminglv 
interested in everything going on ashore and atloat. I didn't 
notice his rank, but, thinking he might be able to give me the 
desired information, I hailed and asked him if he had small-arm 
ammunition on board. *■' Yes," said he ; "why do you ask?" 
"Well," I replied, "about three-fourths of the men were 
dumped into the surf and reached the beach as wet as drowned 
rats ; there can't be much dry ammunition among them, you 
know, and they are mighty apt to strike a hornet's nest up there 
in the woods, so if you will have the stuff passed out I'll land it 
without wetting a box." " I am very much obliged to you," he 
replied; " I saw the wetting and have been very anxious about 
their ammunition ; just go to the open port forwai-d and it will 
be passed out at once." They were ready for us and the boat 
was quickly loaded nearly to the water's edge. " Who was that 
long-geared so-ger on the upper deck?" I asked of a non- 
commissioned officer standing in the open port. " Oh, that is 
General Terry," said he — just then I heard a low but merry 
chuckle, and casting my eye aloft, there he was leaning over the 
rail, no doubt enjoying it all. I was taken aback for a moment, 
but, rallying, told him I would have a supply of ammunition 
ashore in fifteen minutes, so he need have no further anxiety on 
that score. I then offered to land him dry shod whenever he 
wished. " Thank you," said he; " I'll go with you now if you 
will allow me." "What, and straddle a box of cartridges!" 



8 



'■'■ Certainly." " Well, come on then ; I'll drop down to the 
gangway." Buckling on his sword and picking up a field-glass, 
he took his seat astride of a box, high above the boat's gunwale. 
Reaching the ferry, we both stepped into the lifeboat, and, a 
moment later, I had the satisfaction of seeing the General walk 
up the sandy beach quite dry, as T had proiuised. 

His unostentatious landing happily illustrated the preyailing 
methods in his command — no fuss and feathers, but a direct and 
practical application to the business in hand. 

Observing a transport with her decks still packed with troops, 
I went within hail and asked if I could be of service. "You 
can if you will," was the curt reply. " I've been asked the same 
question at least half a dozen times, and the moment I explained 
the situation they slieared off. We have on board Abbot's 
Heavy Artillery, which we are very anxious to land." Going on 
board, the General informed me that his command consisted of a 
siege train — officers, men, guns, mules, ammunition, forage, 
provisions, etc., etc., all of which he was most anxious to have 
landed as quickly as possible, and the guns in position, for they 
would be needed in the event of a repulse from the fort, or a 
determined attack upon the rear. 

I took in the situation at once and realized the ditbculties in 
the way, but, disliking to be the seventh mariner to shear off in 
order to avoid an undesirable job, I told him I would tackle it. 
He had no facilities, the General told me, for landing the guns 
and other heavy material, as he had depended upon the naval 
brigade, which, for some reason, was not at hand. 

We commenced operations by mooring the transport near the 
beach and running a hawser from her bow to our kedge, already 
planted for the use of the ferry. The men, and mules, were 
landed by the lifeboat which had been so actively employed in 
disembarking troops in the early part of the day. The mules 



were led, one at a time, to an open cargo port and blindfolded ; 
a rope's end was then bent to the halter and passed to the crew in 
waiting; at the word, they hauled on the rope, which, aided by 
the impelling influence of a vigorous shove in the rear, sent the 
helpless brute overboard, when the boat started off at full speed, 
towing him on his side, helpless and pei-fectly quiet, to the ferry, 
which conveyed him into the surf, the teamsters standing by to 
lay hold of him as he rolled up on the beach. 

My men were in blissful ignorance of the unique mechanism 
styled the Army Mule, and their sympathies went out to the 
first specimen as he splashed into the cold water ; they hauled 
him alongside with great cai-e and tenderly held his head above 
water while he disgorged a gallon or so from mouth and nose, 
but they paid no heed to my warning to pull away quickly, vm- 
til he had almost succeeded in climbing into the boat. However, 
they absorbed knowledge of the animal and his methods very 
rapidly from that moment until, by the united efforts of three 
powerful men, his two fore feet were lifted by main force and 
thrown outside of the gunwale. Our own crews had no further 
ti'ouble, but a boat sent to our assistance later in the day had a 
serious time witli the single specimen they tackled. He started 
off by getting one fore leg over the gunwale and using the other 
as a maul to smash in the planking, defending himself so effec- 
tively with his powerful teeth that it was impossible to approach 
him until he was securely muzzled by a few turns of a lashing 
drawn tightly around his nose. In the meantime the boat had 
drifted outside of the fleet when relieved of its burden of mule ; 
and, to make matters worse, the coxswain lost his hold of the 
halter. True to his reputation, the beast turned in the wrong 
direction and swam vigorously out to sea, fighting the boat off 
so savagely that he was soon miles away, and I was finally 
obliged to send out and lasso him. The boat retired for repairs. 



lO 



While this work was in progress I was preparing to land the 
guns. They were 30-pounder Parrott rifles, dismounted, it is 
true, yet heavy enough to make the landing of them through the 
surf, with the appliances at hand, an exceedingly critical, if not 
a hazardous, operation. I had no boat large enough for the 
purpose, but, fortunately, found an army launch, flat bottomed, 
broad of beam, and strongly built, which we adapted to our use 
by constructing a platform of cross timbers, from keelson to gun- 
wale, and placing upon it two transverse riders, each having a 
score in the centre line, over tlie keel, for the reception of the 
gun, which was landed by the ship's tackles, and securely lashed. 
The hawser was used as a hauling line, to which both ends of 
the launch were secured just outside of the surf ; the end of a 
shore hawser was then bent to the gun and manned by two or 
three hundred soldiers, who stood ready at the signal to haul it 
from the boat and drag it up the beach. 

The plan worked admirably when all of its parts operated at 
precisely the right time, but several things were liable to inter- 
fere with its harmonious action, particularly when, at the critical 
moment, the stern, or outer fastening, was slacked away to bring 
the launch parallel wdth the beach, where she could be held only 
for a moment at best, and every succeeding roller nearly capsized 
her. The gun-lashings were cast off only when the strain on 
the hawser was sufficient to insure the piece leaving the boat 
instantly and on the right side. 

A successful opei-ation left the launch half full of water, 
which we cheerfully bailed out with buckets. 

The result of our first day's operations was the landing of the 
men, mules, a quantity of forage, provisions, ammunition, and 
two or three guns with their carriages and equipments. 

We returned to the Rhode Island at night, in obedience to 
the Captain's order. I was on the detail for the naval assaulting 



II 



party and supposed I would remain on shipboard in the mean- 
time, as would doubtless have been the case had it not been for 
an innocent-looking note General Abbot requested me to hand 
to Captain Trenchard, which resulted in my returning next 
morning, with orders to remain as long as I could be of service 
to the General. 

An incident of our night pull from the transport to the Rhode 
Island is worthy of mention as an illustration of the innocent 
and unsuspecting manner in which some men will run into 
danger. We were wet, cold, and pretty well fagged out, and 
had a long pull before us at best, so to shorten the distance we 
went inside of the ironclads, which were still in action ; the shells 
passed far over our heads, so we had no anxiety on that score, 
but we had failed to reckon with the wooden sabots, one of 
which soon came hurtling in our direction, followed a moment 
later by its mate, hopping, skipping, and splashing about in this 
direction and that until it nearly caught us. We waited for no 
more but promptly put the monitors between ourselves and the 
fort. 

I did not view the situation with any degree of pleasure next 
morning ; my dream of glory had departed and I bewailed my 
fate silently until I reached the transport, then I sought sympathy 
from a few officers, veterans from the Army of the Potomac, 
who happened to be present. They listened patiently enough 
and finally one of them smilingly assured me that he didn't 
suppose I'd lost any valuables in the sand up there around Fort 

Fisher, and I ought to consider myself d d lucky at having 

escaped the assaulting party. 

Our work progressed without interruption until a little after 
noon on the 15th, when a confederate gunboat opened fire across 
the wooded peninsula ; it was wild at first, improving rapidly, 
however, until it threatened to interfere with our comfort, but 



12 



half a dozen "junboats returned the compliment and soon silenced 
h i m . 

The next interruption occurred about 4 o'clock, an hour after 
the troops and sailors moved to the assault, when General Hoke's 
advance struck the entrenchments guarding the rear of our lines ; 
a brisk fire of musketry ensued for a few minutes, doing little 
damage to either side, but causing myself and crew some 
anxious moments. We were in the act of discharging a gun 
from the launch, and as I was about to give the order to Haul 
away I the troops were sent into the trenches ; before leaving 
they carefully took a turn with the hawser over a fluke of our 
anchor, which prevented our casting it off from the gun, or haul- 
ing out to the transport, so there we were, taking the stray 
bullets intended for our friends in the trenches. As though the 
situation was not already sufficiently interesting, they threatened 
on board the transport to cast off the hawser and get out of 
range ; the bullets were cutting up their deck-house. I do not 
call to mind the exact language in which I threatened them if 
they did such a cowardly thing, but it had the desired effect. My 
crew did not at first recognize the pattering on the water about 
us as flying bullets, but presently one struck the gun and fell 
into the water in the bottom of the boat, where the coxswain 
found it and finally handed it to me, with the remark : " Blowed 
if it ain't a musket ball." Fortunately none of our party were 
struck, and within a very few minutes the enemy were in full 
retreat up the peninsula, followed by a hot fire from the i"eserve 
squadron of gunboats. 

Word came to us a little after dark that the naval assault had 
been repulsed and that many wounded seamen and marines were 
lying on the beach waiting transportation to the hospital-ship. 
Although greatly exhausted, we went immediately to their 
assistance and worked until the men were unable to handle their 



13 



oars, then went on board of a grunboat that happened to pass 
near ns as she was going out of action, where we were made as 
comfortable as circumstances permitted. There were no fires in 
the quarters, so I went into the engine-room, where I found the 
Chief Engineer at the throttle. He suggested that I turn into 
his bunk while he dried my clothing, which I proceeded to do 
after swallowing a pot of hot coffee that had been passed up 
from the fire-room. I was hardly in bed before a stiff horn of 
Navy sherry was mysteriously shoved under my nose in the 
darkness ; I do not know to this day whose hand it was, but it 
warmed me up, and I dropped off to sleep. It seemed hardly a 
minute, and couldn't have been many, when I suddenly awakened 
to find^ my friend, the Chief Engineer, standing over me and 
shaking me with all his might, crying out at the top of his voice : 
"Turn out. Tanner! Turn out and cheer I The Fort is cap- 
captured." 



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